Reputation
is a sneaky way of getting what you want. Just by doing
dungeons and quests, suddenly you hit a landmark level and you have
access to an array of high quality items. Sometimes you won't
even notice the fact that you gained a reputation level until you hit
exalted and then realize how far you've come. For those of
you rising up in this era of World of Warcraft, however, you cannot
afford to ignore reputation. We warriors have
something to benefit from in every faction, even those sissy Kirin Tor
mages have a pair of gloves with our name on them! However,
you must prioritize as some offer an immediate benefit, while some
offer next to nothing until maxed out. It all depends on what
you're looking to do!

Priority 1 -
The Wyrmrest Accord

style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 150px; float: right;"
alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/66126">The neutral residents of
Dragonblight have two pieces that will last you well into your raiding
career. The Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions is available before
you hit 80, only requires Honored, and nearly unmatched by any other
blue quality drop. At revered, we have the Sabatons of
Draconic Vigor for another piece of solid defense and hit tanking gear,
and lastly the Breastplate of the Solemn Council at revered as
well. The breastplate is optional as many heroics
will drop very similar pieces, such as the Halls of Stone giving a
breastplate with similar stats and sockets, but if upon hitting 80 you
have nothing better? By all means, go for
it! If you're looking to break some skulls, with the coming
Armor Penetration boosts of 3.1 you'll find that the legplates make
exalted a worthwhile investment.

All of these pieces are bought from Cielstrasza on the top floor of the
Wyrmrest Temple. Doing all of the quests from Coldarra and
central Dragonblight will bring you nearly to Honored, and from there
the daily quests consists of 2 in Coldarra (Drake Hunt, and Aces
High!) and Defending Wyrmrest Temple from the middle level of
the temple. You can champion this by purchasing a Tabard as
well.

Priority 2 -
Sons of Hodir

The giants of Storm Peaks will take a long time to finish, but the
result is a very good tanking enchant for your shoulders. You
should work on this faction whenever you can since it is entirely
focused around daily quests and cannot be championed with a
tabard. Be persistent and eventually your 20 defense and 15
dodge enchantment will be yours. Also note that the
Stalactite Chopper could make for a solid main hand tanking weapon with
its high stamina, should you manage to hit your defensive goals through
your armor alone. From a damaging perspective, the Axe
Enchants are stellar and just as required as the tanking version if
that's what you're doing.

Lillehoff is your go to guy, er, giant for these. He also
accepts 10 Relics of Ulduar for instant shots of 250
reputation. These are not soulbound and you can purchase them
from other players should you get tired of running the daily quests,
which all center around Dun Niffelem. They are quite crowded
typically, and you might have to jockey for position and tagging of
monsters before other players steal them. Be ready to charge!

The big brothers of the Argent Dawn will give you a solid pair of legs
that will last you until you get an epic pair like the legplates from
Violet Hold, as well as a tanking enchantment for your helmet that
you'll be hard pressed to find better. Some may argue that
the Defense/Dodge enchantment from Burning Crusade would be better, but
you can never go wrong with more stamina. Once you hit
revered, you have access to a wide array of Arms and Fury equipment,
with the Argent Skeleton Crusher being one of the better itemized
weapons for us outside of heroic drops.

Visit Aloicha Segard in the Argent Vanguard of Icecrown to pick up your
rewards for cleansing the land. You can champion this, and
since the daily quests for this faction are somewhat lacking, I would
recommend championing it the moment you get what you're looking for out
of Wyrmrest. Troll Patrol is the main daily for it in
Zul'Drak, but it's imperative you do it within the 20 minute
timer. Make sure you're doing the alchemist part first, and
if you fail it more than twice, I would recommend abandoning the whole
thing and picking it back up again to get a fresh 20 minute start.

The not-so-evil dark crusaders of the land are almost all about
pulverizing people with fantastic offensive rewards. If you
hit honored before you hit level 80, pick up the Toxin-Tempered
Sabatons for a solid set of tanking boots until you get the pair from
Wyrmrest. The Runeblade of Demonstrable Power is a purely
offensive minded weapon that will be your primary offensive piece until
you get an epic of similar power. The Arcanum of Torment
enchantment is the head enchantment of choice as well for dicing people
up even faster. Taking it all the way to exalted will net you
the Death-Inured Sabatons which really have no equal until you get well
into your raiding career.

The Duchess Mynx in Icecrown will provide you with all of these, but
only after you complete a few of the chains leading up to the Ebon
Blade taking over the Shadow Vault. This faction can be
championed with a Tabard. All quests revolve around Icecrown
for the most part, with a repeatable turn in for the Vrykul Bones
giving slight reputation and some Icecrown-only buffs.

Priority 5 - Kirin Tor

The Wizards of Dalaran don't have much for us, but the one item they do
is an almost perfectly itemized pair of tanking gauntlets.
The only reason this faction isn't higher on the list is because you
can get reputation for them from your daily dungeon quests, and once
you hit exalted that bonus faction is wasted. It's a personal
preference to leave these for last, but if you feel that your gloves
are what are holding you back, go for it! Pay a visit to
Archmage Alvareaux for a Tabard and champion it, and go nuts in those
dungeons!

Most of the gear that comes from these will be replaced in short order,
and the exalted rewards being fairly specialized or just not quite good
enough! The PvP enchantment from the Horde/Alliance group is
worth your while if you want to do that, however things such as the
Shield are just outdone by the blacksmithing Saronite versions, and are
relatively cheap to boot. On your way up, the Kalu'ak provide
decent tanking and damage chests, but nothing beyond that is
notable. The Sholazar Basin groups trinkets aren't bad, but
will get replaced quickly by trinkets from badges and heroics and make
the reputation daily grind seem worthless unless you're going for the
pets of the Oracles.

It seems overwhelming at first, but the reputation aspect of the game
comes naturally to honored and to some, almost revered just by questing
constantly on your way up. Monitor it closely, do the daily
quests for the factions that you want to get maxed out ASAP, and make
sure you're not wearing a tabard of an exalted faction! Many
thousands of reputation points have been wasted by yours truly for not
paying attention to that. Now go forth, and make a name for
yourself amongst the vendors of Northrend! After all,
reputation rewards are a lot cheaper than the equivalent off the
auction house!

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